There is some dichotomy in consumers of Napa wine, where some wax poetic about the good old days of Napa - say the 70s and the 80’s and more restrained wines then versus some of the love for more fruit forward and higher extracted wines of the late 90s into the 00’s and 10’s. Clearly the pendulum has swung back a bit in the recent 5 to 10 years with some wine makers moving towards a more restrained style - for example a lot of love for the wines of Ketan Mody of Beta and Jasud - not had them but my understanding is they are more in that style. I had a '21 Maitre de Chai Gala last night that seemed a lot more old school and was quite good (although I sheepishly admit I am a fan of a more modern style). With that preface, I wonder in the face of warmer climates, how do winemakers navigate to make a wine that is old school but has phenolic ripeness without being too modern? I look at Jasud and they attribute dry farming as a reason the fruit from the site reaches phenolic maturity earlier than many watered vineyards. In 2019 they harvested at 24.5 brix and 3.2 pH. That’s still much higher brix than what was typical in the “good old days.” I think the following graph is insightful and probably validates what many of us already know - it really shows how 1997 was the bellwether vintage that changed California wine maybe for ever. I drank a decent amount of Cali from the late 80’s and through the 90s and didn’t really appreciate the trend in 97 - more like in the 00’s. Anyhow, if nothing else the graph is interesting.
I do wonder, are the wines truly mimicing the product of the 70s/80s, or is it more just a restrained, classically styled winenwith the material available today. I do get the feeling that the mountain fruit is probably closer to what the valley floor was decades ago based on where a lot of the folks that are making old school wines are located.
But I dont have the time or information to avtually do a real analysis.
To grossly oversimplify, pick grapes at lower brix. The above chart is an average.
I was in Napa in 2013 and experienced many green wines from the 2011 vintage. As the graph shows, quite a dip in 2011. Perhaps to make “old school” wines it’s a matter of picking when phenolic ripeness has been reached and not allowing additional sugar ripening.
Is anyone picking at 22.5 to 23? I don’t think so (but sincerely don’t know) because the wines will kind of suffer with unripe tannin?
Sourcing from cooler areas like Oak Knoll
I don’t think you can exactly go back as too many factors change in viticulture. That being said I do think there are some grape farmers that can work within the several parameters to get balanced flavorful wines below 14% abv. I count Steve Matthiasson as one of those farmers.
And perhaps shy away from some of the modern winemaking techniques that amped up so many wines over the last two or so decades. Heavy use of new and toasted oak is but one example.
I’m a fanatic of Bordeaux from the 1980s. While we are seeing more restraint in Bordeaux these dates, the 2014 Sociando that I had on Christmas will never taste like the magnificent 1982 Sociando that I also popped. Many of the Bordeaux of recent vintages have greater purity of fruit, and they are delicious - and such much better than what we saw from previously-acclaimed vintages like 2009 and 2010 - but maybe, just maybe, they are too perfect. I need just a little funk in my wines. The Cordier wines from that decade are my archetype for Bordeaux. Could be some nostalgia, that is what I grew up on in this passion of wine, but they really are phenomenal wines, and most of them are still drinking beautifully, and some perhaps more interestingly, today.
Incidentally, the Beta Montecillo is excellent, at least the few vintages that I have tried. Lovely streaks of red and earth in these wines, not something I associate with Napa Cab these days, generally speaking. Closer to the profile of an older Mayacamas, or even the 1965 Krug Cabs that I popped last month, than, say, an Ovid or Harlan.
To my understanding, Brix is a proxy for amount of sugar in grapes. Some vineyard sites and farming methods help reach phenolic ripeness at lower brix.
So for you, it’s possible for an imperfect wine to get a perfect score?
Two factors that I think need to be considered when analyzing the graph in the OP are the book Sunlight into Wine and the discovery that AXR 1 rootstock wasn’t resistant to Phylloxera. Both were early 1990s events and together resulted in new/replanted vineyards that were much different than those planted before 1990.
I think you are probably taking me a little bit too literally, or maybe we can meet in the middle there. I don’t want modern winemaking that strips the soul out of what is essentially an agricultural pursuit.
I’m just playing with you. But for me, the extent of funk I’m willing to tolerate is a cedar component.
I think that is one way for sure, but how to do that when the weather won’t help. I have actually really enjoyed a lot of my 2011’s - sometimes better than some '13s I have had. Dry Farming? Choosing certain vineyards? Something like Canopy Management??
The only 2011 that I remember enjoying was Roy’s.
The weather is what allows complete phenolic maturity. Just ask Europe.
The short answer is that terms like “old school” and “modern” are vague, fanciful and often inject way too much confusion into the conversation.
If anyone calls wines from the 2020s “old school”, it is an emotional thing, referencing directional styles. But as noted above, nothing in the 2020s literally tastes like the wines from the 1970s, because so much has changed.
The real problem is you are assuming that there are a LOT of Napa producers that are making “old school” wines when imho there are only a handful.
Even worse is price has essentially nothing to do with it. In many cases the higher the price the more over the top the wine is.
Just my couple of pennies and probably not even worth that.
Tom
Having worked in Napa in the early 90s, and Ca in general until moving to Oregon in 2001, I promise that this has way more to do with style/taste drift, chasing scores, and public perception of quality than any rootstock changes.
Thanks Dave. I thought it might be a factor but trust your assessment. My tiny home vineyard is all on either 101-14 or RG and see some minor differences from older vineyards n the area so easy for me to assume it was a greater factor.